The Rioteers is a wandering club with a long history of cricket in the South of England; indeed this was their 60th Anniversary match against the Brigands, a fixture which had seen 3 ties in the past.
David Mann was out caught early on, but Guy Ladenburg and Adam Jay built a lovely second wicket partnership including an array of backfoot shots; the wicket was hard and the bowling was fast.
Once they were both out, odd couple Dave Henderson and Dave Turner, carried on the good work cutting, sweeping, and heaving away to get the Brigands up to a run-a-ball 190.
The tea, courtesy of the Turner family, was fit for the occasion; the quiche was light, the sausages tasty, the sandwiches delicious, scones were of the home-made-jam-first-cream-on-top variety, and there were cupcakes galore. Flowers adorned the tea-table and a special cake was jointly cut by the Club Presidents.
Brigands opened up their attack with Mike Bath and Tom Ladenburg who bowled so accurately the Rioteers could only muster 20 off the first 10 overs.
But the Brigands fielding was a bit like England's Round of 16 game against Slovakia taking place at the same time over in Gelsenkirchen, Germany; very poor with a couple of moments of class; a quick pick-up, turn and throw, run out and a neat boundary catch just inside the line were the Bellingham and Kane moments.
It was 25 to win with 4 overs to go and 2 wickets in hand. The Rioteers went for it, but Mike Bath instantly took a wicket, so they decided to hold out for a draw with 9 wickets down.
The players gathered for a presentation and speeches that included a potted history of the fixture; we heard that the win count stands at 17 for Brigands and 14 for Rioteers, and then heard a tale about cricket-loving Sir Alf Ramsey who was bowled out at Broadhalfpenny Down by the Rioteers Captain.
Before his 1966 World Cup winning triumph, Ramsey was considered a man of integrity but a bit stand-offish, and a Manager who wouldn't pick the players the media wanted him to. Ramsey was unconventional when he introduced a new formation of 4-3-3, and on the day before the World Cup Final he organised a game of cricket amongst the squad in which Bobby Charlton starred. Time will tell whether Gareth Southgate will be spoken of so fondly at the Brigands v Rioteers Centenary match.
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